The number of online services continues to grow as Internet access and society's acceptance of online services increase. Online services include a wide range of services that were traditionally offered at brick and mortar establishments and through other channels, and that are now provided through websites (and webpages thereof) accessible via the Internet. Online services may provide banking, investing, shopping, shipping, television, music, etc. One impediment to the growth and/or usage of online services is the desire for security. Both those offering and receiving (or interested in offering and receiving) online services may be concerned with the security of information exchanged when participating in online services.
To address security concerns, firewalls have been established and deployed. A firewall is a system (implemented with hardware and/or software) that controls network traffic to protect against unauthorized access through the network to information and computing devices behind the firewall. Firewalls may control network traffic based on rules set forth in a policy. Different firewalls may have different policies with different rules. In some instances, firewalls may block network traffic according to the rules of the policy. As such, firewalls may protect information and computing devices from access by hackers, viruses, and worms.
Many online service providers use firewalls to protect information and computing devices. In some cases, an online service provider may use multiple firewalls, which may or may not have the same policies. Moreover, firewall policies may change over time (e.g., to address new security threats, such as new viruses), and firewall policies may be added and/or removed (e.g., as online services are added and/or removed). As such, there may be challenges and obstacles to maintaining firewalls.
In light of the above, it should be understood that there may be a demand, for example, among online service providers, their personnel, and others (e.g., contractors) responsible for maintaining the firewalls, for methods, devices, software, and systems that assist in maintaining firewalls.